Victorian Measham Bargeware Teapot with Acorn Finial c.1890s

Victorian Measham Bargeware Teapot with Acorn Finial c.1890s

An Unusually small Victorian ‘bargeware’ teapot, the baluster treacle glazed body with scroll spout and side handle, applied in relief with a band of mistletoe to neck, daisies and scrolls to body, the domed cover with an acorn finial.

Measham ware or Barge ware from Church Gresley, England. Lead-glazed earthenware, with thrown body, press-moulded handle and spout, and applied reliefs; painted with underglaze colours

Not marked.

7.5" (19cm) tall, 9.5" (24cm) across handle to spout. In very good condition - perfect except for chip to underside of lid rim

Working boatmen bringing narrowboats past Measham on the Ashby Canal in the East Midlands would order a specially-made teapot and collect it on their next run up the canal. They were often given as wedding presents and handed down through generations.

Measham Ware pots were also bought by Norkies - farm labourers from Suffolk and Norfolk who, after the harvest was in, went to Burton on Trent to work in the maltings etc. They had the fare for the train home retained by the breweries and, when they got home, they liked to present Measham ware to their mothers or sweethearts. Measham ware was made near Burton, at Church Gresley, Moira, Woodville, Swadlincote and Measham.

Traditionally associated with the canal people, Measham ware dates from the last quarter of the 19th century. Sometimes known as Rockingham ware, it was produced in Church Gresly and Woodville, the last know manufacture date being 1914. All kinds of tea and table ware were made in the characteristic dark brown glaze covered in shiny sprigs of flowers and birds. They were commissioned and sold by Mrs. Annie Bonas from her shop on the High Street.

The main pottery was Mason's. In the mid 1800s William Mason, a Derbyshire potter, started producing teapots with a walnut brown glaze in a design he called “Rockingham”.  They were finished with brightly coloured decoration and often a motto or message which the buyer could specify.

In the late 1800s a shop near “Cut End” Measham started to sell them to boat crews and they became known on the canal network as Measham pots